The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical connectors, and more specifically to connectors that mitigate electrical resonance by absorbing and dissipating electrical energy along ground conductors of the connectors.
Some electrical connector systems utilize electrical connectors, such as board-mounted connectors, cable-mounted connectors, or the like, to interconnect two circuit boards, such as a motherboard and daughter card. Some known electrical connectors have electrical problems, particularly when transmitting at high data rates. For example, some electrical connectors utilize differential pair signal conductors to transfer high speed signals. Ground conductors improve signal integrity by providing electrical shielding around the signal conductors. However, electrical performance of known electrical connectors is inhibited by resonance spikes at certain frequencies when transmitting high speed electrical signals, even with the presence of ground conductors. For example, electrical resonances (e.g., electrical current resonating along the conductors) may propagate along the current path defined by the ground conductors, reflecting back and forth along the lengths of the conductors to cause a standing wave that degrades the signal transmission performance of the electrical connectors.
A need remains for an electrical connector with satisfactory signal integrity (e.g., quality) at high transfer speeds and frequencies by mitigating electrical resonances.